ONE of Great Britain's leading gymnasts has pulled out of high school after allegations of bullying by jealous pupils, it emerged last night.

Kylie McGonagle, 14, who is ranked second in the UK in tumbling, told her mother she could no longer go into Penketh High School in Warrington.

The school's headteacher last night denied he had been alerted to the problem. But, her mother, Joanne Davies, last night said she had already spoken to a senior teacher about the bullying, which began six months ago.

And yesterday, Ms Davies said she had removed her daughter from school for a week for her own safety after a 16-year-old girl spat in the teenager's face.

She plans to meet with teachers again when the half term break is over to resolve the problem. Ms Davies, who lives in Great Sankey, said: "It has snowballed whereby a group of girls have been picking on my daughter for a number of months.

"It has got to the stage were she thinks everybody hates her. She was even too frightened to go to the toilet on her own.

"The first I knew about it was last Monday because Kylie had kept it all in and tried to deal with it herself.

"She broke down in tears when she told me and that is just not like Kylie.

"I believe a lot of it is jealousy because Kylie is a talented gymnast. She is very attractive and has a great personality, she gets on with everybody.

"She isn't big headed at all, when she competed at the World age group games in South Africa no one at the school even knew she was there."

Ms Davies, who was a former gymnast and coach at Liverpool Gymnastics Club in Park Road, introduced her daughter to the sport at the age of four.

The Warrington teenager is now ranked second in Great Britain and finished 14th in tumbling at the World age group games last year.

She first competed in artistic gymnastics, the type seen at the Olympic and Commonwealth games, which made stars of Olga Korbut and Nadia Comineci.

She has also been handed the honour of carrying the Commonwealth Games torch

At the age of 10, Kylie, who is now 5ft 7in, switched to concentrate on tumbling. The discipline involves a single run in which gymnasts perform a string of powerful somersaults and flips, similar to those seen in the floor exercise of artistic gymnastics.

She is part of a talented bunch of siblings with elder sister Kira, 16, on a scholarship at performing arts college in London, while younger sister Micha, 12, trains at the Royal Ballet School in Manchester. Little brother Dean, eight, however, has no plans to follow in their footsteps.

Kylie, who belongs to Warrington Gymnastic Club, has risen to the top despite suffering from Osgood Slatters disease which attacks her tendons and joints

Kylie's sporting success has been honoured by officials who chose her to carry the Commonwealth Games torch through her home town this summer.

She was voted the town's Sports Personality of the Year 2000 and has been selected as a Sport England runner for the Queen's Jubilee Baton relay in July this year.

Barry Fishwick, headteacher of Penketh High School, said: "I absolutely refute any claims that we do not have a sufficient anti-bullying policy.

"As a school, we take bullying extremely seriously and have only recently launched an anti-bullying scheme which has been extensively publicised throughout the school.

"I am, personally, not aware of any approach by the pupil's parents in connection with these allegations."